Cross-feeding between Bifidobacterium infantis and Anaerostipes caccae on lactose and human milk oligosaccharides
Open Access
- 24 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Brill in Beneficial Microbes
- Vol. 12 (1), 69-83
- https://doi.org/10.3920/bm2020.0005
Abstract
The establishment of the gut microbiota immediately after birth is a dynamic process that may impact lifelong health. At this important developmental stage in early life, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) serve as specific substrates to shape the gut microbiota of the nursling. The well-orchestrated transition is important as an aberrant microbial composition and bacterial-derived metabolites are associated with colicky symptoms and atopic diseases in infants. Here, we study the trophic interactions between an HMO-degrader, Bifidobacterium infantis and the butyrogenic Anaerostipes caccae using carbohydrate substrates that are relevant in the early life period including lactose and total human milk carbohydrates. Mono- and co-cultures of these bacterial species were grown at pH 6.5 in anaerobic bioreactors supplemented with lactose or total human milk carbohydrates. A. caccae was not able to grow on these substrates except when grown in co-culture with B. infantis, leading to growth and concomitant butyrate production. Two levels of cross-feeding were observed, in which A. caccae utilised the liberated monosaccharides as well as lactate and acetate produced by B. infantis. This microbial cross-feeding points towards the key ecological role of bifidobacteria in providing substrates for other important species that will colonise the infant gut. The progressive shift of the gut microbiota composition that contributes to the gradual production of butyrate could be important for host-microbial crosstalk and gut maturation.Keywords
This publication has 70 references indexed in Scilit:
- Lactation and Neonatal Nutrition: Defining and Refining the Critical QuestionsJournal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia, 2012
- Human gut microbiome viewed across age and geographyNature, 2012
- Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis fermented milk product reduces inflammation by altering a niche for colitogenic microbesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Human milk glycobiome and its impact on the infant gastrointestinal microbiotaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Nursing our microbiota: molecular linkages between bifidobacteria and milk oligosaccharidesTrends in Microbiology, 2010
- Succession of microbial consortia in the developing infant gut microbiomeProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Consumption of Human Milk Oligosaccharides by Gut-Related MicrobesJournal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010
- QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing dataNature Methods, 2010
- The genome sequence of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis reveals adaptations for milk utilization within the infant microbiomeProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Predicting transmembrane protein topology with a hidden markov model: application to complete genomesJournal of Molecular Biology, 2001